Barbara Safani, CareerSolvers has over fifteen years of experience in career management, recruiting, executive coaching, and organizational development.
Barbara partners with both Fortune 100 companies and individuals to deliver targeted programs focusing on resume development, job search strategies, networking, interviewing, salary negotiation skills, and online identity management.
She is the author of Happy About My Resume: 50 Tips For Building a Better Document to Secure a Brighter Future and her award-winning resumes are featured in dozens of career-related publications.
1. What led you to write resumes? Do you have a background that made you an ideal fit for the industry?
I was previously an HR professional managing recruiting, training, and employee relations initiatives for a Fortune 100 company.
I decided to be on the other side of the employment equation and help people find their dream jobs.
2. Now that you’ve been in the industry for a while, would you recommend it to others? Why?
I don’t recommend it for someone who simply wants to work at home.
It takes an enormous amount of time and commitment to grow a business and the reality is you will work many more hours on your business than if you worked for someone else.
But if you are ready for that commitment, it can be truly rewarding.
3. What is the single best tool you recommend for building client relations? Building your business? Improve efficiency?
My website and my blog bring me a lot of new clients.
The best way to build your business is through strategic partnerships with sites/companies that are bigger than you.
For efficiency, I rely on templates to answer prospect questions that I see over and over again.
4. If you could share one learning experience/great lesson, what would it be?
Never say you are too busy to take on a new client.
The reality is that even when you think you have too much to do, some clients don’t start their projects when you think they will. If you turn them away, that business is lost forever.
If you “fit them into your schedule” chances are someone else will drop off, at least temporarily and you will be able to capture both clients eventually.
5. Looking back, what would you have done differently? Done the same?
Different – I would have looked for strategic partnerships earlier rather than being my own island.
Same – I took my training for my new career very seriously and attained several writing certifications to hone my skills. I think this is critical for every new writer, even if they have written other types of business documents in the past.
6. What advice would you give someone just entering the resume-writing industry?
Observe others in the industry and talk to everyone in the industry that you can; look at their websites, follow their blogs, look at their writing samples.
7. How do you see our industry transforming over the next 12 months? 5 years? What do think resume writers need to know in order to survive?
I’m predicting that social media will become increasingly more important and resume writers will need to become well versed in social media in order to keep their businesses vibrant.
